Counting trends available at noon showed Left Front candidates leading in 220 of the 293 constituencies that went to the polls. .

The Trinamool Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance was ahead in 40 and the Congress in 25. Smaller parties were in the first place in eight. .

Of the 10 results that have been declared, the Left Front bagged nine while one went to Trinamool. .

While the Left is surging towards a three-fourths majority, its main constituent Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) alone is heading for a majority. .

The assembly has 294 seats but polls were held for 293 because polling was put off in one constituency following the death of a candidate. .

The Left Front had 199 members in the outgoing assembly, followed by 60 of the Trinamool-BJP and 26 of the Congress. .

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was leading by a huge margin of 47,000 votes in Jadavpur in south Kolkata. Most of his ministers were also ahead of their rivals. .

The counting began under heavy security at 8 a.m. in 97 centres across the state, which witnessed an unprecedented three-week balloting between April 17 and May 8. .

The overall turnout in the five-phase poll was a whopping 81 percent, up by seven percent from 2001. The total electorate in the state is 48.9 million. .

At the end of the exercise on May 8, exit polls predicted 195-210 seats for the Left Front, 44 to 56 for Trinamool-BJP and 30-35 for the Congress. .

The 2006 poll is touted largely as a mandate for Chief Minister Bhattacharya''s image as an able administrator and his pro-reforms stand. .